OUT LOUD

Author: monikaullmann

Once upon a time way back during the nineties in another century, when Mark Zuckerberg was just a young buck, he characterized people who handed over all their personal information to his then brand new site 'The Facebook', as 'dumb fucks'. Fast forward to 2018 when he demonstrated his ability to suss out what's required … Continue reading Anecdotage: Dumb Fucks R Us

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Sharon Butala, one of Canada's better-known authors, recently published an article in The Walrus in which she laments widespread ageism and demands better treatment for her sixty-something person and well, RESPECT. As for me, one of Canada's least-known authors and a good decade older than Ms Butala, I would like to make some random, old lady … Continue reading Anecdotage: Disrespect for all

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“I’m not sure we shouldn’t be regulated.” If you wanted to signal just how much you hate the position you're taking, put it into a sentence with double negatives. Message delivered, Zuck, old boy. Anyone with your kind of money is now in the 'old boy's club', in case you were wondering. It took a … Continue reading The double negative effect

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During these unsettled days of the #MeToo saga that continues the ominous roll call of men found to be just as bad as we suspected, it's a huge relief to chance upon stories that show that there are other men out there. Sweet, funny guys like Tim, a twenty-something Brit, who ventured into the alien … Continue reading Leggings, my fair lady, & laughter

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How wonderful it is, women owning their power, speaking up, with #MeToo, #Time'sUp and #Nobody'sDoll. This last one is a brave attempt to liberate women on the red carpet from the stiletto heels and plunging necklines that, according to Anna Brueggemann, the creator of #Nobody'sDoll, constitute a kind of straitjacket. She is making a good case … Continue reading Is the patriarchy ending?

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There's going to be a grand military parade in front of the White House this year. The date hasn't been set but that doesn't matter; what matters is that the Orange Beast, aka Commander in Chief, has decreed it. Already, the reaction has set in, much of it comparing Trump to tiny Kim, who also … Continue reading Eternal conflict

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I was going to write something uplifting; I really was. Something about how, with a little luck and a little hope, the human race will not only survive but thrive. But it turned into something quite different. At first, my native pessimism (I call it realism) kicked in with a vengeance, especially during the last week when the … Continue reading The darkest day of the year​

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It wasn't long ago that, in medieval Europe, fathers married off their hapless daughters to forge geopolitical alliances. Girls were pawns in the power games of their families. It mattered not that many of them were mere children. The boys didn't have a lot of influence about whom they married either, while women and girls … Continue reading Ignorance, sexual predation, and the Weinstein effect

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I found a young sparrow on my balcony this morning, lying on its side, dead. It's a first; no dead birds have landed since I moved here more than three years ago. But before I noticed the bird, I was reading my usual morning diet of disaster stories from around the globe, and a couple … Continue reading Mourning a dead sparrow on my balcony

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We were hoping, but we knew that things could go from bad--posturing by Puigmont; legalistic preaching by Madrid--to worse. And it has. Here is what Robin Alan wrote, minutes ago: The situation in Spain is even worse than I thought it would be... they just jailed eight members of Puigdemont´s government... political prisoners in 21st … Continue reading Anecdotage 10a: Catalonia and political freedom 101